GIG REVIEW: Gimp Fist + In Evil Hour @ The Georgian Theatre, Stockton, Friday 6 June 2025
It’s hard to believe that County Durham’s Gimp Fist have been stalwarts of the UK’s Oi! scene for 20 years now.
The three-piece have come a long way since they first played in a pub in their hometown Bishop Auckland back in 2005.
They’re as popular in Europe as they are in the UK, and their streetpunk anthems fill the 3,000-capacity Empress Ballroom at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool every year.
Tonight feels like a sort of homecoming, however, as they’re not too many miles away from where it all began, and they’ve got some old mates with them – on stage as well as in the crowd.
In Evil Hour are a four-piece from Darlington, and although they’ve been around nearly 15 years, they have just two albums and an EP to show for it, plus a couple of more recent digital singles. The good news is they’re working on two new albums – one electric , one acoustic – proof that good things come to those who wait.
If vocalist Alice, usually a shape-throwing force of nature, seems a little restrained tonight, it’s because she and guitarist Garr are expecting a baby. There’s a nod to their past too, as previous drummer Mike, who hasn’t played in years, is back on the stool.
It doesn’t take long for them to get a small but dedicated mosh pit going down the front, and their environmentally-aware melodic hardcore hits as hard as ever.
There’s a good crowd in by the time Gimp Fist – Jonny (guitar and vocals), Chris (bass) and Mike (drums) – take the stage. They’re promising an extra-long 90-minute set tonight, including a new song and others they haven’t played live in years.
The rallying call of “20 years, let’s have it!” sends us hurtling into opener The Place Where I Belong, and the boys are up and running, with one streetpunk anthem followed by another.
Working Class, War On The Streets and A Country Divided get the floor moving from the get-go, then they’re off into the farthest reaches of a back catalogue which stretches to 10 albums, including a couple of newer songs, before they drop in another oldie, Just Another Country.
There’s a brand new song, History Repeats, which is being performed live by the full band for the first time (though Jonny played it solo when he supported Ferocious Dog in Newcastle back in March).
Midway through the set In Evil Hour’s Alice joins Jonny on vocals for two songs from 2015 album The Last Stand? I’m not sure I’ve heard Not The USA and Tonight’s The Night live before, and they slip down a treat.
The seldom-aired More War Stories adds a ska edge to proceedings, and Skinhead Not Bonehead incites the mosh to new levels of excitement, before Whatever Happened is wheeled out at breakneck pace. I’m sure Mike, who’s setting the pace, is getting faster as we go on…
No one’s complaining though, and another rarely-played song, Skindeep, delights the skins in the room (even prompting a human pyramid in front of the stage!) before the lads enter the home straight with six of their very best.
First In Line, Heart Full Of Pride (borrowed from Perkele but now Gimp Fist’s own), Common Ground, Top Dog, On And On and traditional closer Here I Stand take us to a sweat-soaked climax, and I swear that even usually taciturn bassist Chris cracks a smile.
As 20th anniversary shows goes this will take some beating, but Gimp Fist have raised the bar now, and we’ll be expecting 28-song sets from now on…
As Jonny said before the last song: “We never expected any of this. We thought we’d play a few gigs in Bishop Auckland and then that was it. Hopefully we’ve got another 20 years – Chris?”
